Solidarity and responsibility may certainly be recognized as the central ideas of the year
2020. The basic reason for such a statement in central- and east-European perspective was the
40th anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements in Poland and the resulting
development of the Solidarity trade union and social movement constituting the key catalyst of
pro-democratic changes in the part of Europe. That anniversary was overshadowed how ever by
another event - a global one i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic which turned upside down the former
order of things and in a way forced us to thoroughly revise our attitude to the surrounding
world. Solidarity embraced by responsibility becomes a positive counterpoint both in the
real and the symbolic dimension for social integration for building mutual trust and
understanding sensitivity and a culture of cooperation in the light of which the Other is a
being that is equal to us. The articles in this volume offer critical thought in both a
diachronic and a synchronic perspective on the role meaning and place of narrative
discourses experiences and representations in the sphere of ethics esthetics and culture
(broadly understood) in the spirit of the new humanities and in particular its leading phrases:
performative affective and ethical (which is part of the aspect of affirmation) which place a
strong emphasis on the causative interactive dimension of an entity acting towards both
sentient beings and inanimate objects.
